"So," she repeated. "You probably think that it's kind of weird that I didn't even know where my dad was living."
He shook his head. "Not really. Family relationships can be complicated."
Kim nodded. "Yeah, well. That certainly describes our relationship. Complicated." Kim looked into his deep green eyes. They radiated a gentleness, a sensitivity, that encouraged her to confide in him. "My mother died last year," she continued, "but my parents had been divorced for quite a while. It was, as they say, acrimonious. My mother moved to Florida. With me. My father never quite got over it." As she remembered the decor of her father's home, she added quietly, "Apparently."
"Sounds like you've had a tough year."
She nodded. "Not to mention, JFK. Jr. got married."
"My condolences," he said, smiling. "So I take it you're not married."
She shook her head. "No." Before she could stop herself she asked, "And you?"
He shook his head. "No."
After an awkward pause, he said, "So--you and your dad--how long has it been since you've seen each other?"
"I don't know," she said, thinking. "I guess... geez. It must be almost fifteen years."
He raised his eyebrows. "Wow. What happened?"
"Nothing really happened. There wasn't any fight. He just..." she said struggling, searching for the right words to describe the demise of their relationship. "He was very angry at my mother for leaving him. And he wanted me to stay here with him. But..." She shrugged again. "My mother and I were very close. Unfortunately, I think my father viewed my decision to stay with my mother as some sort of betrayal. It was difficult staying in touch with him after that. You know," she added quickly, "the distance and everything. I guess it was bound to happen."
Tony nodded sympathetically, although he didn't really understand. He came from a close-knit family, and he couldn't imagine his parents cutting off contact with him, regardless of what he had done or where he lived. She seemed to read the expression in his eyes. She sighed. "Who am I kidding? You know my dad. I'm sure you think he's a pain in the neck, don't you?"
He almost spit his coffee out. "I... ah, I don't know your father very well," he said, avoiding her eyes.
She smiled as though she had caught him in a white lie. "Like I said last night, he can be difficult. My mother loved him, but even she couldn't take it anymore. She had given him so much of her life, and although she had me, and a lovely home, she said that she couldn't deal with the loneliness anymore."
"Did she work?"
"She did when my parents first met. She was climbing the corporate ladder at an insurance agency, and she loved her job. She put my father through medical school. When he graduated, he decided that she should stay home, and my mother, not being as liberated as... well, for instance, as I am... agreed. In any case, after my parents' divorce, she got a job as an executive assistant, but I think she always wondered what her life would have been like if she had continued working after she married." She paused. "What do you think? Do you want your wife to work?"
He laughed. "Not having a wife, I think the question is moot." She shrugged. "I would have to work. I love my job. It's part of who I am. So I know right off the bat that I'm going to need a husband who can help me raise the children and be an integral part of my life."
"Sounds like you've got it all figured out."
She laughed. "Not really. I just know that I don't want to make the same mistake my mom made when she chose my dad. His main priority has always been his job."
"He is a brilliant surgeon," Tony said.
"Yes," Kim agreed almost sadly.
"I first heard about him when I was in college. I knew I wanted to be a doctor, and my parents got me a subscription to the Journal of American Medicine. I remember reading an article written by your father about a sick little girl who was in need of a transplant. The child had no insurance so your father offered his services for free and convinced the hospital to donate their care. Unfortunately, the transplant failed and the girl died. Your father took it very hard because he had formed an attachment to this child. To make matters worse, the parents turned around and sued him and the hospital for malpractice."
Kim sat back in her chair. Her father had tried to save a poor child? It certainly didn't seem to fit with the mental picture she carried of him. "When was this?" she asked.
Tony squinted his eyes, thinking. "I was a senior, so... 1982."
The year she and her mother had left. Kim didn't speak. She thought back, remembering that year. She had had little idea of the professional chaos her father had been dealing with.
"Kim?" Tony asked, leaning forward. "Are you okay?"
"Yes, sorry," Kim said, forcing herself to focus back on Tony. "I just... I'm surprised," she stammered. "I didn't know about that." She thought back to the child her father had tried to save. "Why did the parents sue?" Kim asked. "Without a transplant the child would've died, right?"
Tony nodded. "Yes. But people are so upset when someone they love dies that they don't always think rationally. They were angry that their little girl was taken away, and they blamed the doctor. Unfortunately, it's not that unusual." He sipped his coffee. "Your father has taken some risks, operating on people that other doctors refuse to touch--simply because they feel the patient's chance of survival is not all that good. Your dad believes that every patient deserves a chance. If he succeeds, he's lauded as a hero. But if he fails--and occasionally we all do, not necessarily because of an error but because the patient simply wasn't strong enough--the doctor is often viewed as the villain. We're used to it. But in that particular case involving the little girl, there was a lot of publicity--negative publicity. If your dad had been anyone else, he probably would have been fired. But he was... and is, one of the best surgeons in the country. The hospital couldn't afford to lose him."